No lift-off for £20m Eagle site

A landmark £20 million business centre on the Black Country Route was today still empty - more than 18 months after being unveiled in a blaze of glory.

The Citadel building, a 321,000 sq ft distribution centre featuring a striking eagle emblem in Wolverhampton, was launched in July, 2009, and put on the market to buy or rent.

Months ago, estate agent Knight Frank said a deal had been struck with a tenant who was taking over the entire site and that they were expected to move in before Christmas.

But the landmark site was still empty today and the company' is now not commenting on its future.

The building's centrepiece eagle emblem, which bosses had hoped would become a well-known symbol of prosperity at the site, has been surrounded with "for lease" posters in a bid to find a tenant to take it over.

Councillor Bert Turner, who represents Bilston East, said: "It would be nice to see something happening at the site.

"The main thing is that it could be providing lots of jobs for local people and that's what we want.

"It's a landmark building and we'd like to see it brought into use."

The Citadel was created by Hertfordshire-based John McKenna, who has produced several other notable pieces of public artwork for industrial sites in the Black Country.

It was paid for by Australian pension fund Goodman Group. A further £3 million was pumped into the scheme by doomed regional development agency Advantage West Midlands.

The site, at one time a sewage works, had been disused for many years.